HOTELS in Scotland outperformed those in the rest of the UK last year, helped by an influx of overseas visitors and a rise in the number of Britons holidaying closer to home, according to a report.
The latest Hotel Britain report from accountants and business advisers BDO reveals Scotland posted the strongest performance in the UK in 2017, with average room yield, or revenue, growing by almost five per cent in a year to £56.70.
This compared to a rise of just over four per cent in Wales, 2.2 per cent in Northern Ireland and just under two per cent in England.
The report states: “The story of Scottish hotels in 2017 is one of great success.
“The boom in tourism following the depreciation of the pound after the Brexit vote has attracted record-breaking overseas visitor numbers to Scotland as well as the rest of the UK.”
Edinburgh was the top-performing city outside of London last year, according to the publication.
Benefiting from strong leisure and corporate demand, the Scottish capital boasted the highest occupancy levels of any UK city at 85 per cent, an increase of 1.8 per cent on the previous year.
The occupancy rate for Glasgow increased slightly to 83.2 per cent.
However, Aberdeen, which has been hit by the oil industry downturn, experienced the lowest hotel occupancy rate in the UK
at 63.4 per cent – a decline of
more than five per cent on the figures for 2016.
UK-wide, BDO said overseas visitor numbers grew for the eighth consecutive year, setting a new annual record at 38.9 million.
Spending in the leisure and hospitality market also hit record levels at £24.3 billion in 2017, up eight per cent year on year.
Martin Gill, partner and head of BDO in Scotland, said: “2017 proved to be a fantastic year of growth where Scotland outperformed the rest of the UK. Edinburgh was clearly the top performer and Glasgow had another positive year.
“Looking ahead, Scotland has
an active pipeline with [more than] 1600 hotel rooms expected to
open during 2018 and 2019. The strong performance demonstrates the industry’s robustness despite facing EU uncertainty and an increase in supply.”
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